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 A new digital distribution publisher founded by American games industry names Greg Costikyan (right) and Johnny Wilson has been formed. Called Manifesto Games, it has one clear aim: "to build a trong and viable independent game industry." The move has come as a response to the percieved constraints of retail channels and their reliance on big budget titles, and is seen by the company founders as the perfect way to encourage niche content or games that would otherwise be overlooked.
Writer and games designer Costikyan (whose Game Developers Conference rant about how the games industry is "fucked" should it continue on its big-budget path Edge readers may remember from our transcription in E149), had this to say about the new venture: "The game industry has become moribund. It is now essentially impossible for anything other than a franchise title or licensed product to obtain distribution. Yet historically, the major hits, the titles that have expanded the industry to new markets and created new audiences have been highly innovative. It is time for us to find a way to foster innovation, because it's not going to happen if we leave it to the large publishers."
Manifesto will distribute all the games it publishes via its site, and while the digitial download sector is a hotly watched one, Costikyan says that even those already taking advantage of this space are chasing the wrong goal by offering casual games or publishers' back catalogue titles. This ends up selling games to people who aren't really interested in them. "We'd rather try to sell games to people who already buy them," he says.
"The typical game store only has 200 facings," he adds. "They can only carry best-sellers. On the Internet, there is no shelf space and you are limited only by how well you can market yourself, your site. This is where niche product can rule." Of course, Valve's steam system (and the growing success of it) shows that it is possible for developers to deliver their games (even a massive, technology and budget heavy one) direct to the masses, but Manifesto wants to foster an independent games market that is comparable to the world of independent film or music.
The move will come as little surprise to those in the industry that have followed Costikyan's writings. As far back as 1999, he insisted that 'Gaming needs an indy label' in an article reprinted here on his blog. And, GDC rant aside, he is most noted for his 'Death To The Games Industry' that asserted his problems with the games industry's current business model. Links to all his relevant writings can be found at Manifesto's site here.
This sounds like a great idea, anything that supports more independant producers is good in my book, but surely there's a contradiction here; one minute Greg is talking about expanding to new markets and new audiences and the next he's saying, rather snootily,
"We'd rather try to sell games to people who already buy them," surely it's the people who aren't interested in what's currently available that are the new market and new audiences.
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